Anyone had else had their Wal Mart downsized?

[Wifezilla]

We have that problem with the King Sooper stores in our area. Some are fantastic and others are downright nasty. As luck would have it, the nasty one of close by my house. I wait till my Wednesday dance class and shop at the "good" King Soopers by the studio.

 

[A.J.'s]

I want to tell THE WORLD about walmart.. I lived in a big city for many years. more than 40. Could go anytime of day or night to buy pretty much anything I wanted.
Then I moved to this depressed outdated old wrinkled and dried up little country town. 10 miles to a store, if you wanted to call it a store, to buy outdated, wrinkled, molded, old merchandise from a store that was dirty, stale, rodent and bug infested, but sold by a sweet old grandma who lost that smile soon after your back turned.
The merchants would soon charge for letting you come inside to buy something. They seldom were nice, could not get them to help you find a thing and were ugly to you most of the time.
Then the day came.... walmart came to town. I was so happy. Clean floors, Smelled good, no rats running around the flooor, associates trained on helping you find things and even help in learning how to use them.
A smile on the faces of associates. A "good morning" from the staff. Clean merchandise, no spoiled food and clean shelves and lighted so you could see what you were buying.
Prices marked at a decent price, not as if it was he last loaf of bread in town. cause it wasn't.
"outsiders" treated as if they were as good as the "old timers" and merchandise priced to them the very same.
A place to park where no mud holes could eat up the car. No cats sitting on the counter to lick at you or dogs to jump up on you and knock you down,
Fresh airy place to shop... no one following you around as if you were going to steal the last bottle of nail polish and when you finished up your shopping and left there was no gossip spread around town of your purchases or your life and the latest instalment on your life story and recent purchases or such...
Yes, I was romantically involved with the small town, country aire of the little country town.. until I moved there. I dont care how many little mom and pop stores are put out of business. HURRAH!

 

[moodusnewchick]

Quote:
That's how it is around here! I'm in CT and you wouldn't know we're in a recession based on the continuing sprawling Wallys going up and constant "development" of land. We've got your 24hour super worlds down to the rinky dinky ones without the sad fish in tanks in the pet department. Target does seem to be holding its own and putting up some stores too. But they don't don't have the extensive grocery, pharmacy, pet store, nursery...that a 24hrWally does. I cringe when i go in, but i must admit, i'm there.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Quote:

You are my hero.

I don't shop at Wal*Mart because it makes me want to explode. I have never seen so many rude, argumentative, mannerless people in one place together before in my life (families having fights in the middle of the aisles, very rude cussing in public, children running everywhere and grabbing everything). It just ruins my shopping experience. I think 25% of Wal*Mart customers are normal, decent folks just trying to save money, and the other 75% crawled out from under a piece of wood somewhere.

I prefer to shop at Meijer, Target, and Costco; the yahoos show up there once in a while, but it's never as bad as at Wal*Mart.

 

[kstaven]

It is sad when people cheer mom and pop businesses going under. They are the very ones that keep money in communities, and in the country, rather than leaching millions of dollars a day offshore to foreign interests.

 

[Reinbeau]

Quote:
Then they need to act as though they aren't the only deal in town, treat their customers with respect, and give them good value for their money. This is in no way saying Walmart is the way to go, but I can assure you if I'm treated well at a local vendor, I will shop at the local vendor, even if it means a few cents difference in price - read that again, though. A few cents, not dollars. Treat me well and you'll get my money every time. Treat me like it's a pain to deal with me and then, if Walmart, or Costco, or another vendor is around the corner, that's where my money will go.l

 

[Trollkiller]

Quote:
How many rolls of toilet paper can I get for a chicken?

 

[kstaven]

Quote:
Then they need to act as though they aren't the only deal in town, treat their customers with respect, and give them good value for their money. This is in no way saying Walmart is the way to go, but I can assure you if I'm treated well at a local vendor, I will shop at the local vendor, even if it means a few cents difference in price - read that again, though. A few cents, not dollars. Treat me well and you'll get my money every time. Treat me like it's a pain to deal with me and then, if Walmart, or Costco, or another vendor is around the corner, that's where my money will go.l

I agree with what you say concerning how a customer is treated. None the less it is a sad economic reality surrounding our buying habits that has helped gutter the economy.

 

[kstaven]

Quote:
How many rolls of toilet paper can I get for a chicken?

What type of chicken and is it SQ, a broiler, or fryer?

 

[Trollkiller]

Most people hate Wal~Mart because some Michael Moore type told them to. The problem with Michael Moore types is the numbers they give to back their side are almost always skewed. This sets up negative feelings not based on fact but based on lies.

I am not a Wal~Mart apologist and I really don't care if they were to all go away. I know if Wal~Mart fails there will be another store to serve me. It is the trollkiller in me that hates skewed numbers and colored arguments.

Wal~Mart has the success they have due to their business model. Sell a lot of different stuff at a cheap price. A Mom & Pop store has a different model, sell a few things at a premium price. (compared to Wal~Mart) People will pay that premium price if they see a value in the goods and services they are buying.

If I need oil, groceries, headlight, pants, shampoo, and a TV I can get that in one trip at Wal~Mart. There are just a few other stores that I can get all that and get it at 3:00am when it is convenient for me to shop.

Tell me of any Mom & Pop that has all the things I need at 3:00am? You can't because there are none.

I have lived in huge cities like Houston and small towns like Wewoka Oklahoma and found the same to be true, there are no Mom & Pops that carry almost everything I need and are open at 3:00am.

If a Mom & Pop store is to survive they need to sell items you can't get at Wal~Mart.

Before anyone brings up Wal~Mart's labor violations be sure to divide the number of violations with the number of employees and see if the percentage is any worse than a Mom & Pop's percentage. You will find they are not.

Wal~Mart would not be a success if someone was doing it better.